OK...I have been stressing about this for the last few days...I have a chronic medical condition for which I need pain medication. However, I've lost control. This month, I had my Rx filled for a month and Monday will be two weeks and I will be out of meds. I'm certainly aware that I am dependent on these meds, however I believe I lost control more due to desperation about controlling the pain. I'm supposed to take one pill twice a day and I have had to take 2 instead each time. Now I am scared to death because I know I am going to be out of meds Monday. I do have an appt scheduled with my doctor but I don't know what I am going to say. Should I just be honest and tell him that I took too much medication? I am so worried if I do that, he will refuse to prescribe any more to me. On the other hand, I could go in and say that my pain is not being controlled with the meds I have and ask for some breakthru meds...which I can use to get me through the next two weeks. I am terribly upset with myself and I curse the fact that I got sick in the first place. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't even have this terrible issue with these narcotics. Can anyone offer me some advice? I'd really appreciate it. I'm so scared...

Gramps is absoutely right. If your medication is not reducing your pain if you take it as prescribed you need to let your dr know this. If you are not honest with your dr, eventually it will catch up with you and make you look realy bad in the drs eyes, so honesty is the best policy.

Yes indeed you have put yourself in a very bad situation myself I signed a contract stating NO early refills no matter what reason he just will not refill early even 1 day he care s not if it puts a person in widthdrawl or not or in severe pain or not he will not do it I have always believed to be completely honest with these doctors but if you tell the truth you went against what he perscribed without him allowing it myself I would tell the doc the truth about what you took and WHY you took double the doseage and see what he dose and if he stills help you do not do it again no matter what opiate widthdrawl will teach a not forgotton lesson if one is to go through them I have gone threw them due to stolen meds and I have never forgot it

Storm, I am so sorry you are having this much pain. I do not want to sound negative and this is only my opinion, but if I went in to my doctor and told him I was self-medicating and took a months perscription in 2 weeks, he wouldn't be to happy with me, in fact I'd expect to be let go. I do think you need to tell him your meds are not covering your pain and then let him decide what the next step is. I just don't want you getting into trouble. See what the others recommend. Believe me we've all been there where our meds are not doing the job, and it's tempting knowing that one more will help, but we have to follow the doc's orders. They trust us to follow the directions and we can't afford to lose their trust.

I'm sorry to hear of your situation, it is not an easy one. I don't know what to say about dealing with the med shortage, maybe go through the withdrawal and at your next appt make it clear that the meds are not even close to covering your pain. I have a situation where the meds are not enough and the doctor is raising them so slowly that I feel he is getting his jollies out of knowing I am suffering while he inches the dosage up. If you have any meds left, keep some to taper down the last 2 days. Space your remaining meds out as far as possible and the withdrawal will not be as severe, if you have any left.?. It is up to you whether you talk to your doc or not, prior to your next appointment. If you do, you may not have a pain doc anymore.... It is always harder to find a new doc after you mess up.. Just pointing out the hard reality.

I so have to agree that honesty is best.Your doctor will not know unless you tell him,Since you have not said any thing he thinks that your pain meds are working.So just tell him the truth and then you'll can work together to come up with something that will help the pain and not make you run out a week or so before time for meds refill.Curley

I tend to agree with BoxerLover, you don't have to lie to the doctor but telling him that you took twice the amount prescribed may well get you banned. I would just say that the meds prescribed are not nearly enough and see what he says--why make him distrust you? whitfield

You seem to have two choices and I'm not sure which one to suggest but the question I have is...what happens next month, and the month after? What if it happens again if he up's the meds? If you're going to lay it on the table you may want to tell him that you should have called a week ago when you saw you were getting into trouble. Have you ever had any issues like this before? Any other reason he shouldn't trust you? Don't answer these questions here, just things to think about.

I do feel very badly for you because I know how awful it is not being able to control the pain. I know other people in my doc's office have to sign a contract for their pain meds. I don't and if I did anything to make doc distrust me I'd be in a world of hurt. Give it some thought. What can you live with?

Unfortunately, my disability cannot be corrected by surgery. There was an internal procedure that they could try to correct it, but it's already been tried and failed. I've been going through this for four years now and my specialist tells me there's nothing left to be done, and it's something I am going to have to learn to live with. The organ affected cannot be transplanted.

To answer mexximelt, I choose not to share my disability on a public forum. I do not see how that is relevant since the issue here is the chronic pain.

I think I have decided to talk to my doctor and tell him that my meds are not helping like they should, and I have found that I need to double up on them for them to be effective. I will let my doctor take it from there. I just have to pray that he will work with me and not take my medicine away altogether. I know I messed up, and my doctor would have every right to refuse to prescribe to me in the future. I am mainly just upset with myself that I let my pain control me. It is just so frustrating to know that all it would take to help that terrible pain is just to take one more pill than I should. But that one more pill leads to another extra pill next time, and before you know it, the meds are gone in half the time they should be.

I have another question...I have been on pain medicine for the past two years...I have heard of something called a drug holiday that is used to lower a person's tolerance who is on chronic pain meds. Can anyone tell me about this? Does it sound like something that could be useful for me?

Thanks for all the support. I appreciate it. I am still so nervous and stressed. I hate the way I feel and it's all because I am dependent on these darn medications. :( Hugs to others who are dealing with this.

My appologies if you thought I was trying to pry. Truly my only motive was to get the right person to you that might give you some insight specific to your need. I know that talking to someone who has the same exact pain symptoms as me makes me feel so "heard" when you only feel those who have gone through the same thing understand.